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Semantic Poetry Translation of the Chinese Poem ‘Drinking Under the Moon’ by Li Po

*
The fermented

grape-
juice
among the reproductive
parts
of
seed-plants

O! I’m conscious
of
my state
of
being isolated
from
others!

Ah! Body attendant
on
the
Earth		 revolving
about		 keeping
238,840 miles
(mean)
aloof		 & shining
by
reflecting the

light
radiated
by
the
sun

into
my
mouth
I take
& while expressing the hope for thy success.
swallow
the
liquid
* *

Obtain the
visual
impression of a
dark
patch formed beside me
by
my body
which
obstructs some rays of thy light!

Let
us
three		 influence
ourselves		 by feedback
from
each		 the object of which
is
to stimulate
the
pleasure centre
in
our brain!

Body attendant
on
the
Earth!		 Why are you separated from me by 221,614 miles minimum—

Why is the distance to you increasing up to 252,972 miles?

Make thy glides
leaps
revolutions
gestures
& other expressions of a universal fixation for rhythmical movement

the
keep in step with partial
darkness caused by the intervention
of
my thy light
body between
&
the surface
of the
Earth
& with me.

* * *
The existence
of
this
emotion		 shall
continue
for
a
period
of
time



which is greater than


every
assignable
quantity

Body attendant
on
the
Earth!		 Let the



Let them

&
&		 vibrations of my short lyrical song
stimulate thine external ear-drums
be conveyed to thine internal ear-drum
thence to thine internal ear fluids

cause impulses to pass up thine auditory nerve
to
the
hearing
centre
in
thy
brain

I &		 the
patch
of darkness
produced by the
intervention
of
my
body between


the surface of the Earth

&
thy light
we can move
rapidly
like the





away.

masses
of
minute
droplets
of
water

suspended
at
high
altitudes

in the

gases
of
the
air
* * * *

And having the
fermented
grape-juice in our stomach
absorbing it into our cerebro-spinal fluid
paralysing various parts of our nervous system with it
speaking thickly
unable to maintain equilibrium
our vision blurred and double
we get merged with one another
cognitively
&
affectively

(though separated and companionless again when the sun
is
above
the horizon)

Let us determine the place
of
our
meeting which
shall
continue for a period of time
greater
than
every
assignable
quantity
somewhere
between
145,000 million
or is it
300,000 million
stars constituting that particular ‘island universe’
of
which
our
solar
system
is
a part.

—

Stefan Themerson, in: Stefan Themerson, Collected Poems, Amsterdam, 1997; p. 65

 

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